That may have been me. I love my machine. I have white vinyl floors in my kitchen and this thing spin scrubs them so that they sparkle. I track in a lot of dirt from gardening and I used to get dirt so ground into my floors that they never looked clean after a mopping. I hated always having to get down on my hands and knees with a bucket and scrub brush to get out the ground in dirt. The machine out of the box has to be snapped together - not hard at all. I am the type who gets completely frustrated having to assemble things and this thing was a breeze to put together. A child could do it. The cleaning solution that works with the machine smells *fresh* and not flowery or chemical. You can also use vinegar and water with the machine - cheaper and no worry about chemicals on the floor if you have children or pets. The machine is easy to fill and empty without fumbling and cursing. There are two different spin scrub brushes that come with it. One for flat even floors and one for floors with deep grout lines. They interchange and just snap right on. The edge attachment is easy to hook up and is great for getting behind the toilet and between things. They give you a little ergonimically designed carrying thingy for the attachments and cleaning solutions that keeps everything neat and tidy and handy. They say there is no need to sweep beforehand as the machine vacuums and scrubs but I find it easier to use a broom first because I don't like having to pull hair from the bristles everytime I use it. I think the machine will last longer if I don't have hair and big stuff going into it, but that is just me. Do not buy this machine thinking it will also function as a vacuum for your rugs. It is a vacuum, but is not designed for rugs, and you will be disappointed in the results. This thing is alomost 'fun' to use and I find myself cleaning my floors more often because it is so easy now. I just pull it out of the closet and fill the tank in the sink with tap water, and add a capfull of solution. Empty tank in toilet when done. It does not use much water at all, only about a liter I think. The cord is loooong so you don't have to keep plugging and unplugging the machine as you go throughout the house (unless you live in a HUGE home). It's just like using a vacuum except it scrubs the floor. There is a trigger button on the handle to spray extra cleaning solution on tough spots. The machine squeegies up all the excess water so that the floors are practicaly dry when you are done. They say it can be used on real wood floors and have a wood floor cleaner to use with it but I personally felt that it got my wood floors too wet to use on a regular basis. I may do my real wood floors with it every few years and stick with my regular cleaning in between. Make sure when you slide the water tank in that you hear it 'snap'. I put it in once and it did not connect and I realized that I did half my floor and it was bone dry. A minor oversight on my part and not anything wrong with the design of the machine. You do have to go SLOW when using the machine. You have to give it time to scrub as you slowly push it forward and then slowly draw it back as you suck up all the water. Some people find this to be tedious. But the results are worth it. Check out epinions.com and amazon.com an sites like it that have consumer reviews. The reviews for this machine are either that people LOVE the machine or they hate it. Personally I think that the "hate" reviews are planted, maybe by a competitor? I got mine at Sams Club. They had the cheapest price I found. If you go to the Hoover stores they are the most expensive there. Target has them at the same price that most other stores have them and they also sell the solution there for the cheapest I have seen ($6.99). The Hoover store sells the solution for the most ($9.99). A lot of my friends and neighbors, who I have shown the machine to, ask me why didn't I get a Roomba Scooba? No one I know has actually bought one but I see from reviews that they do an adequate job and you don't have to push anything around. They've been talked about here in the forums. Maybe something you could also check out if you have a huge home to clean. If you have your heart set of the Hoover Spin Scrub 800 I would say "Go for it!" I don't think you will regret it.

Our entire house is 12x12 light colored ceramic tile and I use a Floormate to clean it. I love this piece of equipment and cannot imagine having to go back to the old way of cleaning (vacuum, mop and dry). It does it all, and is easy to use and handle as well. When I bought it, the sales person cautioned that it is designed for cleaning hard flooring, but NOT necessarily grout, unless your grout is high enough so as to be nearly level with the tile. According to her, as long as the grout is no more than a fingernail thickness from the surface of the tile it would get it, otherwise it would not. So my expectations were realistic to begin with. What I like best is how well it cleans the tile and how dry it leaves it. For us there are zero marks or streaks, though this may be floor specific. I can imagine that anyone that has a shiny floor might get streaks no what they use to clean it. I do prefer my stick vac for dry vacuuming, so that is what I use most often, but when the floor needs mopped, I get out the FloorMate. To do the kitchen takes about 15 minutes. The hall about 10, and the MBR another 10. The hardest part is getting all the junk off the floor and out of the way--that takes longer than the cleaning process. I guess the only trouble free way to clean is to hire someone else to do it, but until that day comes, I will remain a satisfied FloorMate customer. Lynne

Actually, they are useful for so much more than protecting against scratches (which I don't care about anyway): Water doesn't backup into the colander when draining pasta When I rinse down the sink, items in the sink no longer block the drain or block the "path" to the drain so I don't have to "chase" specks of food, etc. around the sink! There is less scratching of the bottom of the sink (this is minor to me since I don't mind the scratches) When I dump something in the sink, whatever I've dumped doesn't wash all over everything sitting in the sink....whatever is dumped goes straight down the drain I can rinse and drain dishes on the grid and still run water in the sink w/o running it all over the items again Things lay flat on the grid (no slope like in the bottom of a sink bowl and items in my sink no longer slip down the slope and cover/block the drain) If I'm handwashing dishes, I can use the grid tines to hold things up, especially plates & bowls (similar to a dish drainer) and dishes air dry faster b/c air circulates all around them If your sink is too deep for you on a daily basis, the grid will raise the bottom of the sink an inch or so Less need to clean/wipe the bowl b/c things aren't as likely to "stick" The stainless steel ones in my cleanup sink also act as a trivet for hot things (when the sink is clear, of course!) -- I needed a large "trivet" once and used one of the grids from the sink, it worked great!

More FYI... Food recalls in the US were more widespread – and deadly – in 2024 "...There were fewer recalls but more hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne illnesses Although the total number of FDA and USDA food recalls dipped in 2024, more people got sick from contaminated food than the year before. In fact, more than twice as many people were hospitalized or died. In fact, nearly all illnesses last year were associated with just 13 outbreaks, according to the recent report. Many involved familiar brands, such as the E. coli contamination of onions used in McDonald’s Quarter Pounder sandwiches, which led to 104 illnesses, 34 hospitalizations and one death. The Listeria contamination of Boar’s Head deli meats led to 61 illnesses, 60 hospitalizations and 10 deaths...." And this was in recent news... A deadly E. coli outbreak hit 15 states, but the FDA chose not to publicize it The outbreak linked to romaine lettuce killed one person and sickened at least 88 more, including a 9-year-old boy who nearly died of kidney failure. That child has been harmed for life - and his family faces enormous medical costs.